Houstonian 1995 - The Issues. 1995. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. March 31, 2015. http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/yearb/item/5767/show/5492.

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index.cpd

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Title

The Issues

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yearb1995019.jpg

Transcript

(Cont. from page 22)
judicial elections,
the GOP took part
in an enormous
sweep by knocking
off all but one
Democrat judicial
candidate in Harris
County. As a result,
not a single African American or
Hispanic judge remained locally.
Crimial District
Judge Carl Walker
told the Houston
Post after his reelection lost, "It's
hard to believe a
county as big as
Harris County
would have such a
white judiciary."
The reason
for such a GOP
landslide victory
could be traced directly to President
Clinton and the
prevailing feelings
of America. Never
really getting over
a 40% approval rating at anytime of the year, the
GOP took advantage of the
president's failure to get any
type of health care reform out
or any major domestic policy
measure out of Congress. Using his shortcomings in the
domestic arena and criticizing
his unpopular "flip-flop" foreign policy, the GOP was able
to persuade voters across the
country that the "old way of
doing things" no longer sat
well with the average American. Attacking old Democratic
policies toward teenage mothers on welfare, "illegal aliens,"
affirmative action, and what
they called "useless
spending," the GOP
captured the very
important white
male vote (in which
over 60% voted Republican). In contrast, the Democrats
were unable to bring
out its historical
bases with African
Americans and His-
panics. To the Democrats' disadvantage
African Americans
and Hispanics voted
Republican more
than ever since the
turn of the century.
Promises to pass
measures for term
limits, to get a constitutional amendment supporting
school prayer, and to
perform massive surgery on the current
welfare system,
turned out very satisfying for the GOP.
The mood of the voters was such a drastic
change from the one
that elected Bill Clinton two years
before that Republican strategist
Bill Kristol told Newsweek in an
interview after the elections, "It
(was like) the Russian Revolution
in reverse."
Acording to many professional and political scientists,
Kristol's comments were "right on
the mark." Russell Contreas
Top Photo This Page: Republican Tex Lazar
lost ihe Lt. Governor of Texas post to Democrat
Boh Bullock. Photo by Arthur Hermiz Bottom
Photo: Republican Senator Bob Dole from
Kansas became Senate Majority Leader, when
the Republican Party swept the elecetions in
November of 1994. Photo courtesy of RM Photo
Senicv Opposite Page: Texas Senator Ka>
Bailev Hutchinson won the Texas Senate seal
Houstoniqn 1995
24